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A review by greg_talbot
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
4.0
Thumbing through "Fooled By Randomness", Taleb's fleet prose is both fascinating and questionable. Fascinating because the topic of randomness, and its role in our lives is immeasurable. Maybe it's because i've focused on personal investment as my reading pastime lately, but the financial stories (Nero the daytrader, behavioral economics) feel the most grounded. What gets questionable is that theory and insightful discussion are paddled off for silly tangents. Consider the philosophical section about Popper's falsification, and then diving into the less than charming personal characteristics of Popper, or another philosopher Hegel. But when I compare his work here, or "Black Swan", Taleb's hubris doesn't annoy me, as much as amplifies a joy and original thinking to "randomness". Other pop-psychology books i've read of a similar pattern - "Blink" (Gladwell), "Serious Creativity" (Bono) feel flat when they try to be so objective, that they never seriously engage the reader.
A final thought: Taleb brings the idea of randomness to a more universal question about how to live the good life. If we don't have self-agency, how much are we in control of living the good life. These questions have been debated from Plato to Kanye West. Maybe it was just the randomness of his structure, but Taleb brings poetry into the discussion. He gives an impression that maybe randomness is not to be mitigated, instead it should be seen as a vital condition on how we interact with the world.
A final thought: Taleb brings the idea of randomness to a more universal question about how to live the good life. If we don't have self-agency, how much are we in control of living the good life. These questions have been debated from Plato to Kanye West. Maybe it was just the randomness of his structure, but Taleb brings poetry into the discussion. He gives an impression that maybe randomness is not to be mitigated, instead it should be seen as a vital condition on how we interact with the world.